Largest meal eaten

According to correspondence published in the medical journal The Lancet (Volume 325, Issue 8432, 6 April 1985), the largest documented meal consumed by one person weighed 19 lb (8.6 kg) and comprised 1 lb (453 g) of liver, 2 lb (907 g) of kidneys, 0.5 lb (226 g) of steak, two eggs, 1 lb (453 g) of cheese, two large slices of bread, 1 lb (453 g) of mushrooms, 2 lb (907 g) of carrots, one cauliflower, 10 peaches, four pears, two apples, four bananas, 2 lb (907 g) of plums, 2 lb (907 g) of grapes and two glasses of milk. The patient was described as a 23-year-old female model. The patient was admitted to hospital presenting with abdominal distension and severe respiratory stress, and later died following attempts to remove the undigested food surgically.

The correspondence – "Case of bulimia nervosa presenting with acute, fatal abdominal distension" by Gillian M Edwards – explained that a history from the patient's next of kin revealed that she had been excessively concerned about her weight for several years and indulged in periods of fasting for three or four days following by extreme gorging.

Historical reports of bulimia recount much more extreme cases, such as "Mortimer's Case" (from Philosophical Transactions) of 1743, in which a 12-year-old male was recorded as eating 384 lb (174 kg) of food in six days, but such reports cannot be substantiated.